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Thursday, January 24, 2013

I must admit that I am very partial
to elven races in pretty much any game I play. So it’s only logical that I
produce an article about them, right?

Elf characters are definitely not
suited for everyone. If you’re looking to hack and slash your way through a
game with as much blood and as many execution kills as possible, I would
suggest you choose a different race. But you know that already, don’t you?

Let’s talk about the elf race in
general for a minute. Now, when I say elf race, I am thinking of wood elves.
Dark elves, high elves, moon elves, and the like are another beast entirely.
Keeping that in mind, it’s safe to say that no matter what game you’re playing
(or what movie/book you are watching/reading), you can expect certain things
out of the them. They’re generally described in the same manner across the
board: shorter than other races, pointy ears, blonde to copper hair,
green/brown/hazel eyes. All that good stuff. They’re people deeply rooted in
the land, and they dress and act accordingly. Simple clothes, armor/weapons
made from natural material, you get the picture. Because of their land (or
tree) dwelling lifestyle and generally smaller stature, they’re very nimble.
Elves are known for their agility and stealth skills, making them a good choice
for those who prefer a sneak-and-snipe style of gameplay.

Look at those..that dagger. Yeah, the dagger.

What else are the elves known for? That’s
right...archery! Almost every elven race you encounter, no matter what the
game, is guaranteed to excel in the marksman skill set. And their affinity for
bows isn’t arbitrary; it’s a natural choice for their race because of their
sneaking ability and their connection to the land. (I imagine it’s a damn hard
thing to make a useful sword out of wood or animal bone, but you can make a
hell of a bow out of a tree branch or deer rib if you’ve got the skill.)
Besides, most elven races rely on wild game as a primary source of food. And
unless you’re wuld nah kest-ing your
way through a hunting area, you’re not going to bring that elk down with a
longsword.

All that said, you can probably
guess how skills are broken up with elven races. Dexterity is the big one. I’ve
never encountered a wood elf class that doesn’t have some bonus to dexterity/agility.
Speed is up there too. Elves are quick little shits, because they have to be to
make up for their general lack of strength and endurance somehow. I’ve seen some games give elven races a boost
to intelligence or magic skills. (This is usually truer for dark or high elves
than wood elves, but it does happen.) The only purpose I could see for giving a
wood elf those perks would be for healing/restoration magic. (Unless we’re looking at Dragon Age, which I’ll
get to.) You’ll also see perks in areas like marksmanship, light armor, alchemy/herbalism,
short (or one handed) weapons, sneak, dual-wielding, and the like. Some games
(read: TES), include other perks like poison/disease resistance, special
abilities with animals, and so on. Put
all that together, and you’ve got a good foundation to build a ranger, rogue,
or scout character. But watch out...elves are seriously lacking in terms of
strength/endurance/constitution. If you
get unnerved by a low health bar, buck up, become an orc, and wield a warhammer
instead.

Unless he shoots that bear square in the mouth, this isn't going to be a pretty fight.

So there is the wood elf
stereotype, if you will. And really, the stereotype doesn’t just apply to their
character builds. You can also see it in the lore behind the characters. Games
across the board put certain key elements into wood elf lore and culture. First
off, they are almost always discriminated against. The Dragon Age series is
probably the best example of this. The elves are enslaved or kept in alienages
inside the city walls, where they live in poverty. They’re essentially
second-class citizens. Same goes for the Elder Scrolls series. Although it’s
not as blatantly obvious, elves can run into some serious discrimination in
cities. This is particularly true in Skyrim, but one must also consider that
the Nords hate just about everyone. Still, there has not yet been an Elder
Scrolls game that takes place in the wood elven homeland, so you’re pretty much
stuck being a foreigner no matter what. (TES III: Morrowind does take place in the native land of the Dark Elves, but they're not the ones we're concerned with.) Those big pointy ears don’t help you
blend in, either.

The Elven Alienage in all its..erm...splendor.

Wood
elves also lend themselves to a pretty rich history if you do some digging. A
lot of games (I’m specifically looking at TES and Dragon Age, because they have
strong elf lore, but you can find it in other games as well. Forgotten Realms
has an interesting and detailed elven history.) Usually, the elven history has
a lot to do with the elves being somewhat reclusive, and contact with other
races usually doesn’t go well. Take the Dragon Age Dalish, for example. Their
tribes have little contact with humans, and what contact does occur usually
does not end well. (See: every city elf in Thedas.) In Tamriel, the Valenwood
Bosmer get involved in lots of conflicts with many different factions,
including armies from Cyrodiil and Elsewyr.

Tribal Dalish. Good stuff.

In addition to that, the wood elves are
usually pretty spiritual. I’m gonna refer you to Elder Scrolls on this one,
because frankly I find it fascinating and I don’t care if it’s a little
irrelevant. Most wood elf races have a deep connection to the land and the gods
that guard it. If I may refer you to the Green Pact in Elder Scrolls lore…the
Bosmer made a pact with the forest god Y’ffre that they would not harm any of
the vegetation in their homeland. So they rely on rock and imported timber for
building supplies. Weapons and armor are made from animal bone and hide. But
that’s not the best part. Because of the pact, the Bosmer are almost strictly
carnivorous. But they don’t just eat wild game. They eat the enemies they kill
in combat. A Bosmer warrior is expected to eat his fallen enemy within three
days. If he so chooses, his family can help. Wood elves = cannibals. Who knew
they were so intense?

Valenwood concept art for The Elder Scrolls Online.

But I’m not just here to blabber on
about the elves as seen in games. I love the race. I really do. So I wondered
where they came from and how they came to be portrayed as they are today. Elves sprung up in Germanic
mythology/folklore. They first popped up in Old English and Old Norse texts,
and they’re highly popular in both British and Scandinavian folklore. They were
originally fairly ambivalent creatures. They could help or hinder humans with
their magical abilities as they so chose. But as time went on, they became more
and more sinister.

Old school elves were not very attractive.

The origin of the word elf is Old
English (aelf). It’s believed this comes from an even older word (albiz) that
means “white.” Elves appeared in many mythological stories all over Europe and
the British Isles. They were generally sneaky and mischievous creatures,
although sometimes portrayed in a positive light. Usually, they were kept away
from. They went from mythology into fantasy fiction around the 20th
century, after the Brothers Grimm and a few others collected
folklore/fairytales and retold them to a general audience. The prominence of
elves in fantasy fiction was cemented in the early 1900s with the release of
two novels: The King of Elfland’s
Daughter (Lord Dunsany) and The Hobbit
(J.R.R. Tolkien). That’s right
friends, we have Mr. Tolkien to thank for the elves we know and love today.
Elves were central to his Middle-Earth mythology (especially in The Silmarillion). Because his books
earned such a large fanbase, the elf reemerged into modern popular culture.
Elves and elven language began to emerge in all sorts of books, movies, and
role playing games. The Tolkien fantasy
elf was particularly popularized by Dungeons & Dragons, in which they were
portrayed as being not only more beautiful than mortals, but also wiser, more
perceptive, and with sharper senses.
They were said to be skilled archers who were also proficient in magic
and loved nature, art, and music. And thus the modern elf was born.

I would punch a baby for that perfect elven skin.

If you’ve never played an elven
character before, I highly suggest that you try it at least once. If nothing
else, it’s research, right? And besides, who can complain about being short,
beautiful, and deadly?